Lizbeth Pacheco

Samantha Kirby

English 102

February 4, 2018

Grey’s Anatomy and the Education behind it

Grey’s Anatomy is a television drama show that first aired in 2005, that is a science

related and shows the daily lives of Meredith, Derek, Preston, Cristina, Izzie, Alex and George Commented [1]: that is science related or what is
related to science?
being interns, doctors or mentors. Grey’s Anatomy was inspired by the medical text Gray’s

Anatomy. The main setting is in Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital where it shows what these

interns, doctors, and mentors do and sometimes shows the characters homes to show a different Commented [2]: make singular since sometimes and
homes is already plural
view of how their life is outside of the hospital. Throughout the seasons Derek, Christina, Burke,

Izzie, and George started disappearing while Meredith Gray the main character stays throughout

the continuing seasons. Grey’s Anatomy focus is to show how a doctor does his or her

professional work and how they show their life and relationship problems. The message that the

show delivers as a medical show is to educate the audience about health and the effects that can

be caused. ABC news interviewed Sandra de Castro and she stated that “26 percent say

primetime entertainment shows are among their top three sources for health information”

(Castro, 1), meaning that shows should provide health-related information. While Grey’s

Anatomy provides the message about health, can the audience have an unrealistic view of what

the show captures and get a wrong idea about the intention of the show.

In the cast of the show there is a variety of race and a diversity of doctors in Grey’s

Anatomy, there being White, African American and Asian. The demographics are American

adults 18-49. Out of these American adults, there were the same amount of men and women and
they were either highly educated and or less educated. The PEW Research Center shows the

numbers of how many of these adults view a science-related genre regularly, often or sometimes

(Funk, Gottfried et al.,1). The Psychographic is the level of education there is for the audience to

feel like they are a part of the show because some of the audience may be going through a

similar situation. The show is teaching the audience of how one may have a solution to their

problems. In every episode of Grey’s Anatomy, there are life lessons and moral lessons that are

given when something is happening said Kelsey Cronan, WordPress (Cronan, 1). Based on the

audience age range, is the audience most likely watching the show to be warned about their

health level and or want to know more information about health through this show.

The show uses education and identification. ABC News states that “new research

suggests that the shows may also be an important source of health information for their

audience” (Childs, 1). This claims that the show is informing the audience about their health and

how one should act if something similar would have occurred to them. The show is providing

situations that may happen as a real-life situation and want the audience to see what people

would do. The show is wanting the audience to understand about their own lives by providing

episodes like “Season 1 Episode 9, Who’s Zoomin’ who?” were George and Olivia's relationship

led George to be transmitted with a disease. Part of this episode was discussing about contracting

sexual diseases and this situation alerted the hospital and demanded everyone to get tested

because there were relationships happening between interns and doctors. The last episode of the

first season hit 9.8 million viewers and was the highest viewed episode and show in 2005. Commented [3]: maybe place this within a section that
relates to your viewers age or how popular the show is
Overall Grey’s Anatomy is educating people to think about themselves, but the show may

sometimes seem unrealistic. There are cases in which a patient may have a rare condition or an Commented [4]: very good point !!!

event where someone did something stupid that may seem unreal. In “Season 2 Episode 2,
Enough is Enough” there was a man who ate 10 Judy dolls and at first the doctors could not

seem to figure out what was inside of the man. Later throughout the episode the doctors figured

out that they were Judy dolls and they were surprised. The man because that is something that Commented [5]: "they were surprised by the man"
accidental period
people don't intend to do. Providing this type of medical case may make the audience not

understand what the episode is trying to say. But this is the reality of what the show is trying to

provide because they want the audience to be interested in such rare and unrealistic cases. The

rarer cases there are, the more the audience will continue watching the show.

Not a lot of rare cases happen throughout the seasons and the message itself does not get

lost. The message is continuing to educate the audience about the medical experiences that the

interns, doctors, and residents go through. Grey’s Anatomy is about trying to save people’s lives

who have been hurt or need surgery to survive. In every episode, there are different scenes where

a medical emergency is shown and how the doctors take care of the case. Every episode is

educating because there are always different cases and most of them are not always the same and

it shows different methods of how the situation is handled. With or without complications the

doctors have to do everything possible to save the patient and or let the patient die if they cannot

be saved.

Grey’s Anatomy message connects the audience through every season and episodes. Even

though there might be unrealistic scenes, the audience can still be connected to the show because

they are interested in what the show is presenting in each episode. The audience has to decide for

themselves if they want to see Grey’s Anatomy as informational or as an educational show. The

show promotes different levels of understanding, so it’s up to the audience to determine whether

the show promotes health information in an educational way. The audience is already shaped by

the media rather than gravitated towards media because if the audience likes watching Grey’s Commented [6]: how does media tie into thesis and
explain what it means to be shaped by media
Anatomy, they will continue to watch the show and learn more about what it has to offer

throughout the seasons.

Works Cited

Childs, Dan, and Abc News Medical Unit. "'Grey's Anatomy' Lesson? TV Ups Awareness." ABC

News. ABC News Network, 17 Sept. 2008. Web. 04 Feb. 2018.

Cronan, Kelsey. "How Is the Audience Involved in Grey's Anatomy?" Analyzing Television.

N.p., 04 May 2016. Web. 04 Feb. 2018.

Funk, Cary, Jeffrey Gottfried, and Amy Mitchell. "5. Most Americans See Science-related

Entertainment Shows and Movies in Either a Neutral or Positive Light." Pew Research

Center's Journalism Project. N.p., 20 Sept. 2017. Web. 04 Feb. 2018.